Archive for
September 7th, 2007


Stories

Morocco election photoblog lets voters talk politics with picturesPhotos post

A small portrait of the translator Jennifer Brea · 18:57, September 7th, 2007 · Middle East & North Africa
lingua → pt · fr

Millions of Moroccans headed to the polls today to take part in a political process many lament will only offer the Moroccan people more of the same. So if voters aren't particularly enthused, who could blame them?

It's Morocco's eighth parliamentary elections since 1960, but as Amazigh Blog (fr) wrote last week, ‘WHAT IS NEW in 2007? Personally, if I had to sum it up in one word, I would say NOTHING.”But what happens when a group of “idealistic nomads at heart” decide to bust out of the corporate grind and do something to spice up the country's rather sluggish political debate?

Intikhabat.2007.com (more…)

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Deforestation in Ghana & What China can learn from France?

A small portrait of the translator Juliana Rotich · 12:35 · Sub-Saharan Africa , East Asia
lingua → pt · ar · zht · zhs · jp · es

In these times of globalisation and world trade, the challenge of how to protect the environment while ensuring increased economic growth appears to be a problem facing many countries. In this article we offer glimpses of this, first in Ghana through the post ‘Sweet ‘n Sour', and in China in the post ‘What China can learn from France'.

Rory Williams of the blog Carbon Copy points to one of the negative effects of the deal struck between China and Ghana where China is set to build a 400MW hydroelectric dam and Ghana is to supply China with cocoa - massive deforestation. Rory also includes some poignant facts about the 'sour' end of the deal.

…originally forests covered 36 percent of Ghana's territory but by 2000 this had shrunk to just 10 percent. Forest clearing in Ghana is also a result of urban sprawl, export of timber, and use of wood for domestic fuel. Despite planting 10,000 hectares of managed forest a year, logging is taking place at an estimated 5 times the level it should be for sustainability.

The concept of Green GDP, an index of economic growth with the environmental consequences of that growth factored in, is mentioned in the post ‘What China can learn from France' by Jianqiang Liu of the blog China Dialogue. (For some background on the idea of Green GDP and the need for its adoption in China, read this post by China Dialogue's Ma Jun) Jianqiang Liu makes a compelling case for the need for China to draw lessons from France's laws regarding environmental protection, which offer a precedent for dealing with myriad environmental problems.

The significance of the charter is that no other law may contradict it. By contrast, China’s environmental laws are numerous and of little use. There are no consequences for companies or local governments that ignore them, which they continue to do. Enshrining the principles of environmental protection and sustainable development in the Chinese constitution would give them unprecedented legal status as well as symbolic power.

Last but not least, also from China Dialogue is a post on India's third liberation - An economy that benefits the poor and protects the environment. The manner in which this can be achieved is outlined by John Elkington. In addition he wonders whether India can join China in a new ‘axis of sustainability'.

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Ecuador: Blogs for the Constituent Assembly

A small portrait of the translator Eduardo Avila · 03:52 · Americas
lingua → jp · zht · zhs

Editor's Note: The following is a translation of an article written by Christian Espinosa at his page Cobertura Digital [ES] and used with permission.

Surely, this will be an experience to remember in terms of political campaigns using internet 2.0 tools: when the political party of Rafael Correa chooses to replace its traditional website for a community site of blogs, where each candidate for the Constituent Assembly has his or her own blog.

The result?

More than 100 blogs with the possibility of interaction in the comments section are competing for a greater presence on the primary page of the official site, in this case Alianza País [ES] according to the amount of updates of their proposals. For each candidate, there is a respective video presentation on You Tube along with the statistics of number of visits.

Party lines vs. proposals that leave its print

The advantage is that we can now see how much ex-Ministers (of Energy) Alberto Acosta [ES], (Communications) Monica Chuji [ES] or models like Roxana Quierolo [ES] (who only has two updates) worry about reaching their audiences without falling into the party line and taking into account their own administration of their blogs. What they publish depends on each one of them. Everything they say or promise will leave its print on the internet, for everyone to see.

Explosion of Blogs of the Campaign

This is a very unique case in the region because it is not every day that the Constituent Assembly takes place, where it can change the Constitution of a country. There are more than 4,000 candidates for the 120 slots for representatives. The elections will take place on September 30, 2007.

Alianza País, the government's political party, is not the only one with its own blogs. In Ecuador, there has been an explosion in the number of blogs [ES] and videos uploaded to YouTube by hundreds of candidates that are not well known. All it takes is a look at the tag “Asamblea Constituyente” in Technorati. The advantage is that we can see if they go back on what they have said. The difference is that these parties do not have an overall collective strategy, rather they are personal initiatives.

President Rafael Correa Announces the Creation of his Blog

correaanunciablog.jpg

Caption: Coming soon the blog of the citizen President Rafael Correa

Finally, Rafael Correa's communication strategy has become one of the strongest demonstration in the use of campaign 2.0 resources in the region. Not only does he have his own YouTube channel, Flickr account for his official photographer, but also a community (in the style of El País) with more than 100 blogs updated daily. The next step, according to the banner published on the official party page, is the creation of the official Presidential blog of Rafael Correa.

Questions

A journalist colleague that edits the political section raised a question about the blogs that are not part of the campaign. How can the independent blogs (not part of the campaign) be a part of the Assembly election process? Have they been part of the process? How?

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